ok so on to my rant:
...ummm.... ok i got it!! always losing one sock for every pair in the laundry really!?! does it always have to be one side? and then to make it worse i'll end up putting the other side in a small foldable box in the linen closet and it will sit there for months,, months!! and atleast a week after getting rid of it I will find the other side ...

Don't you know? That missing sock goes to the land of missing left socks! I often have that problem myself. I would be asking myself where they went to if I didn't already know about the land of missing left socks.

Yesterday, he continued his denial "you guys lost the money" "you guys lost the 400!"

wait, 400? Didn't he say 200 the other night?? his reply: "you guys said 250 for bills and 200 for the damage from the cat!" no... we said 200 flat for bills AND damage for the cat. I was being nice -.- technically he owes me... 100 deposit, 200 bills, 30 for the lock and 50 for the damage... 380? he claimed to have never mentioned 200 last time.

-another rant- I cannot hear out of my left ear, I'm pretty sure it's just wax. Used the old "use warm oil" method and guess what... NOW I DEFINITELY CANNOT HEAR and it feels like when you get water in your ear and you can't get it out ;-( I don't like it! I hate that feeling and now it just hurts.

Stupid "it works" remedies.

Breed for the breed, not for the money; the words any REAL breeder would understand.

You must know nothing in order to know all, for all is nothing and nothing is for all.

Bomba, glad you're safe. Australia's had a real time of it this past couple of years, hasn't it?

I guess this is why the poem mentions 'droughts AND flooding rains'.. had to happen sooner or later. Dreading all that new green going dry, though.

Prayers for everyone in the danger zones.

Sena, I'd never put oil in my ear.. >< I find one of those wheat bags you heat in the microwave, wrapped in a teatowel, really good (not TOO hot!). Just lay my ear down on that for half an hour - and if it doesn't shift whatever's in there, then I am off to the doc - just in case it's not wax. Hope you feel better.

-another rant- I cannot hear out of my left ear, I'm pretty sure it's just wax. Used the old "use warm oil" method and guess what... NOW I DEFINITELY CANNOT HEAR and it feels like when you get water in your ear and you can't get it out ;-( I don't like it! I hate that feeling and now it just hurts.

Okay, so this won't win me any popularity contests, probably, but it's my rant for today and it's how I feel... and I am not an innocent in this rant either, for the record.

What is the point in whining about how cruel and nasty pet stores and walmarts are to fish, while persisting in giving them money, and thereby supporting their ongoing cruelty with your dollars while there's ethical, if not more convenient, alternatives?

The fish being "rescued" from those stinky little cups wouldn't even be stocked at all if people just stopped buying them -- and therefore had no reason to be going back to spend however much else on all the crap needed to fix its terrible health, which the store probably caused in the first place. And sure, ONE person removing their custom won't make a difference. But there's how many tens of thousands of registered "betta lovers" on this site, and all the other sites, and who knows how many readers. That's a LOT of customers moving their money elsewhere.

Do we really care that much? Not enough to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of the bigger picture, it seems.

I'm not at all opposed to pet store fish, if the store is ethical in its approach to the livestock it sells. But by giving my money to unethical stores, to practitioners and merchants of appalling cruelty and suffering, I am supporting -- no, I'm helping to fund -- the deaths of hundreds more fish, all the ones I can't "rescue" with my dollars.

I would not support a business which sold sickly two week old kittens, telling people they could raise it in a pet carrier all of its life and clean its poo out once a month. I would not purchase one, and then have the lack of wit to complain about their cruelty like I was not in part directly responsible for the suffering. I'd call the SPCA, is what I'd do.

But a betta isn't a kitten, is it? It's just a fish, right? And my needs as a fish owner far outweigh any moral or ethical issues I might feel toward the poor creatures left behind in that shop of horrors, who are not the current beloved, gorgeous, foo-foo "rescue" swimming around in my tank right now. It's hypocrisy, is what that is, IMO. Roads paved with good intentions, etc.

And don't get me started on breeders who sell their fish to these places and pretend to be concerned about betta welfare. They have to KNOW the fish they are responsible for bringing into the world are GOING to end up in a tiny, filthy cup, their life expectancy seriously hampered, or dying right there on the shelf, if not sent home with a noob who was lied to about the fish liking to live in a quarter gallon of cold water. Seriously?

I'm way too angry about this today. Maybe I've read too much "OMG-petsmart-is-so-mean-and-look-i-bought-a-fish-squee". One too many "help, the pet store lied to me"s from people coerced into unwitting complicity by dishonest or intimidated-by-the-boss pet store staff, and who have just purchased a big pile of guilt and worry along with their $7.99 "easy to keep" fish.

The betta industry as a whole (outside of small pockets of genuine hobbyists and caring pet owners) is built on lies, entrenched misinformation and a general disregard for the wellbeing of living things, and on people thinking of everything -but- the welfare of the fish -- and the enormity of this, and the enormity of the suffering it causes, freaks me out just a tiny bit.

I'm sure there's a million arguments to refute whatever. Okay. But I will not feel bad about disliking hypocrisy when I see it, and I will never buy another fish out of a tiny, dirty cup amid finrot and "betta bows on special" ever, ever again.

I bought my females, from a petsmart o.o but I checked everyone over and they were decent. My one girlie got ich though....feeling better now :) and scaring me when I come to find "OH MY GOSH SHE DIED" when really she made a fort from the river rocks
The pet store in town though it's the employee. Not the store I switched my nephew tanks. He gets my 10, and I ge his 2. he gets the 2 gallon's super harsh filter for the 10. but he has to learn from me

Breed for the breed, not for the money; the words any REAL breeder would understand.

You must know nothing in order to know all, for all is nothing and nothing is for all.

Aus, your opinion is always valid here. :) You have a lot of good arguments. I guess I have a more laissez faire approach in that I feel that no matter how many of us "responsible" betta owners stop buying from those places, there will still be hundreds of ignorant people to buy in our stead so I might as well get a pretty fish and give it a good home. Mostly, I don't think about it. I just see a pretty fish and want it. XD

I do definitely agree with you that the entire betta industry is built on lies. You are so right about that part.

Anti rant: the stand that my dad built for the 55g is perfect. Both the 55g and the 29g are up and running. Yaaaay!

Rant: I haven't been able to get a hold of Geek Squad to authorize further repairs on my computer. At this rate, it'll be next April before I get my technobaby back. :(

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